Zoomerification

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Published August 1, 2026

Zoomerification is an image edit format where photos of people or fictional characters get a Broccoli Hair perm and their dialogue is rewritten in Gen Z slang like "bussin," "no cap," and "fr fr." It started on 4chan in May 2021 and hit viral scale in mid-2022 through Twitter and Instagram meme pages.

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Overview

Zoomerification is a photo edit format where real people or fictional characters get a "Zoomer Perm" (also called Broccoli Hair or Mulatto Perm) pasted onto their head, and their dialogue is rewritten with a heap of Gen Z slang like "bussin," "no cap," "deadass," and "fr fr"3. The joke works by smashing a serious or iconic figure into the speech pattern and hair of a stereotypical 2020s teenager1.

Edits typically pair a still from a film, TV show, or historical photograph with a caption that swaps the original line for a slang heavy rewrite3. Frank Sheeran from The Irishman, Don Draper from Mad Men, and Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men all got the treatment as the format built momentum3.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (origin), Twitter and Instagram (viral spread)
Creator
Unknown 4chan user
Date
2021

The setup started on 4chan on May 11th, 2021, when an anonymous user posted a photograph of a teenager with a Broccoli Hair cut and listed several slang expressions tied to Gen Z3. That thread also produced the Zoomer Perm exploitable, which artists soon pasted onto Wojaks and Pepes2.

On October 5th, 2021, a /tv/ user gave Frank Sheeran the haircut, and other posters replied with Irishman lines rewritten in slang3. Five days later, a /pol/ user ran the same edit on Adolf Hitler3.

How It Spread

Before November 17th, 2021, an unknown Twitter user posted an edit of a judge's photograph, which was then reposted to iFunny and back to 4chan3. February 2022 brought more scattered 4chan posts, but the format did not hit critical mass until early April 2022, when an anonymous /tv/ user edited Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men with Gen Z dialogue3.

On April 13th, 2022, another /tv/ thread featured a Don Draper edit with the reply "lucky strike, it's bussin"3. Twitter user @hereliesthighs reposted it within the hour, and the tweet pulled over 7,300 retweets and 80,200 likes in two months3. The next day, @tulpapilled posted an American Psycho business card scene edit that gained 860 retweets and 9,600 likes3.

The big jump came on May 15th, 2022, when Redditor GirlsInMerzbowShirts posted an edited "Mad World" frame with the rewritten lyric "I find it kinda bussin', I find it kinda cap"3. Twitter user @LeaMaric copied the post on May 20th and cleared 62,500 likes in two weeks3. Instagram meme pages including rad_milk, trashcanpaul, adam.the.creator and sonny5ideup pushed the format further in late May and early June 20223.

How to Use This Meme

Making a Zoomerification edit typically starts with a still of a serious character, historical figure, or celebrity. Common convention is to paste on the Broccoli Hair perm and rewrite the caption or line so it is packed with Gen Z slang like "bussin," "no cap," "fr fr," "deadass," and "lowkey slap"4. The stronger the contrast between the source (a hitman, a mob enforcer, a dictator) and the teenage vernacular, the harder the joke lands3.

Frequently Asked Questions